Eureka! Ramps!

We were walking though one of the small woods on the fringe of Geneva yesterday, crunching through the dead leaves and enjoying the green slowly rearing its head, but I was frustrated.

I took a weekend course a couple of years ago to learn to identify and cook comestible wild plants and the one I most loved, the simplest of them all, was "l'ail des ours". "Bear garlic". Ramps.

Why wasn't I finding it? The conditions were right. It was nice and boggy. Had I forgotten everything I had learned? Such a basic and simple beginner plant.

And then finally I saw it. A few lone leaves poking up. I made my way though the mud, picked one, crushed it between my fingers and smelled. There it was, that lovely mild but unmistakeable odour. Ramps.

Thumb and foreginger stained green, beaming, I made my way home.

Ramps(en)/L'ail des ours(fr)/Allium ursinum(L)

Later today I walked along one of the rivers and eyes peeled, found my beloved plant again. This time in a good sized drift of leaves.

I was tempted to pick some but in the end opted to leave what I found.

Sometimes, knowing something is there is better than having the thing.